From the Cheap Seats: Batman’s Delightful Political Correctness

Sorry, “The Dark Knight Rises,” no Oscar for you. Not that you don’t deserve it.

Far from it. The Dark Knight is easily the best of a pretty sorry crop of Hollywood offerings this year, but it’s completely politically incorrect and we know the Academy insists on nothing but political correctness.

Comparing Robespierre, author of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, to a comic-book fiend via the Occupy movement is absolutely correct, just not politically so.

Here’s what you need to know: The latest in a long line of Gotham City wannabe criminal kingpins is Bane, but, as the movie makes clear, Bane is no Bain, and he’s not Mitt Romney, either. He doesn’t even wear undergarments that appear tailored in Salt Lake City. What he is is a tool, but we’ll leave that spoiler unrotted.

Bruce Wayne’s Batman has long been retired when Bane escapes from a prison and is captured, on purpose, to facilitate his arrival in Gotham City, which has become peaceful while the thugs were locked up in Blackgate Prison courtesy of the Dent Act. Never mind if you aren’t up to speed on Harvey Dent, aka Two-Face, for whose crimes Batman took the fall and as a result, Bruce Wayne has been a recluse for the last eight years.

During that time, Wayne Industries has spiraled down, largely the result of Solyndra-like investment, except in fusion. Wayne invested heavily in the project, but cut off the money when it became clear that with a flick of a switch, fusion headed inexorably to fission and we all know what that means. Kaboom, as they say in the comics.

Wayne resists the entreaties of his partner in the project, Miranda Tate, played by Marion Cotillard, to move ahead with the project. Tough guy, Bruce Wayne.

Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, meanwhile, is just an honest working girl with a problem who’s smitten with Batman and Gordon.

While all that is going on, Bain is busily robbing Wall Street with a ragtag mob of thugs. You might even say he occupies it while he declares the dawn of “a new era in western civilization.”

Bane’s reign of terror includes show trials and unpredictable violence, kind of like the Paris of the French Revolution.